Malino, Jerome
MALINO, JEROME
MALINO, JEROME (1911–2002), U.S. Reform rabbi. Malino was born in New York City, earning his B.A. from City College in 1931. He was ordained at the Jewish Institute of Religion (later merged with Hebrew Union College, (huc-jir)) in 1935 and was awarded an honorary D.H.L. from Alfred University in 1958, as well as an honorary D.D. from huc-jir in 1960. After ordination, he became rabbi of the United Jewish Center in Danbury, Conn., a position he held for his entire career. In 1981, he was named rabbi emeritus and joined the faculty of huc-jir as adjunct lecturer in Homiletics; he had previously taught at Western Connecticut State University and been a member of the Commission for Higher Education for the state of Connecticut. For more than 40 years, he served as a chaplain at the federal correctional institution in Danbury (1940–83).
Malino was a leader of the *Central Conference of American Rabbis on both regional and national levels. He served as president of the New England Region of the ccar (1961–63) and was the long-time chairman of its admissions committee (1964–73). A consistently outspoken proponent of rabbinic ordination for women, he was elected vice president of the ccar in 1977 and president in 1979. Following his two-year term of office, he chaired the Committee on Rabbinical Growth. He was also a member of the Alumni Overseers of the huc-jir, which honored him by establishing the Jerome Malino Award, bestowed on the best first-year student at jir.
Malino, a member of the National Executive Committee of the Jewish Peace Fellowship, was a pacifist and supporter of conscientious objectors to military service, even during World War ii – a controversial position for a rabbi at the height of the battle against Hitler. Moreover, his advocacy of non-violence extended to the theater of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Malino also served as president of the Institute of Religion in an age of science, delivered scholarly papers at its conferences, and contributed numerous articles to professional and religious journals. In 1988 Malino received the Rabbi Israel and Libby Mowshowitz Award from the New York Board of Rabbis.
bibliography:
Kerry M. Olitzky, Lance J. Sussman, and Malcolm H. Stern, Reform Judaism in America: A Biographical Dictionary and Sourcebook (1993).
[Bezalel Gordon (2nd ed.)]